Pneumatic-despatch tube



' (No Model.)

0. F. PIKE.

PNEUMATIG DHPATGH TUBE. a V N0. 566,01 Patented Aug. 18,- 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CHARLES F. PIKE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PN EU MATlC'-DES PATCH TUBE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 566,016, dated August 18, 1896. Application filed May 2,1896. Serial No. 589,960. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. PIKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pneumatic-Despatch Tubes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to pneumaticdespatch tubes, and it is especially adapted to those cases where it becomes necessary to cross a bridge or other structure where a swaying or vibratory motion is caused by expansion and contraction due to the varying changes of temperature, the force of the wind, or travel across and upon it. The swinging and vibratory motion due to these causes renders the use of rigid tubes not only most difficult, but also thoroughly impracticable.

My invention has for its object the production of a flexible pneumatic-despatch tube that will render these objections nugatory and permit of the commercial use of a pneumatic-despatch-tube system that can be laid across and upon any bridge or other structure where such a swaying or vibratory motion may be present.

My invention accordingly consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangements of the parts, as hereinafter are more fully described in the specification and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l is a cross-section of the tube. Fig.

' 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal horizontal section of the tube. tions.

The tube may be of any configuration desired and is constructed of metallic rings a, provided with a trackway a. To lighten the metallic rings a and reduce the weight of the tube, a portion of said rings is cut away, as shown at a leaving the space a between adjacent rings. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) The rings form a continuous metallic trackway for the carrier and are held in position by the covering b, which is composed of rubber or other flexible material to allow the tube to adjust itself to the irregularities or Vibratory motion of bridges or other structures over or upon which it is laid.

The ends of the tube-sections are enlarged, as shown at b b, Fig. 2, and fit into the recesses c c of the flanges c c. The flange 0 is made in two parts and placed on the end of the tube-sections and secured thereto by means of the bolts d d. The trackway a may be a raised trackway a and the metallicrin gs be formed in two sections, as shown in Fig. 4. The rings may also be of a dovetailed shape, as shown in Fig. 5, to allow the covering to more firmly hold them in position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- A pneumatic-despatch tube composed of metallic rings provided with a trackway and a flexiblecovering, substantially as set forth.

CHARLES F. PIKE.

Figs. 4 and 5 are n1odifica Witnesses: JNo. E. PARKER, JNo. STEELE. 

